Industry News

FDA has issued a warning to healthcare providers about counterfeit surgical mesh being distributed in the United States under the C. R. Bard/Davol brand name. To date, investigations have identified four product sizes as counterfeit flat sheet polypropylene surgical mesh:

CCL Industries Inc. announced today that it has acquired Purbrick Ltd, a privately held company based in Melbourne, Australia. Purbrick supplies patient information leaflets and pressure-sensitive labels to global pharmaceutical customers located in Australia.

Chesapeake (Bucks, United Kingdom) is offering its customers in healthcare and other sectors a paperboard concept that can provide a 3-D quality to any package. Impressions is formed by using a low-energy process for forming a paperboard material into distinctive shapes.

This exciting development can help promote a brand through representations of tactile bubbles on a tube to replicating the distinctive shape of a bottle or jar. Impressions can also be formed into a pod to hold a liquid or paste, offering a more environmentally responsible alternative to plastic packaging.

Automated Packaging Systems (Streetsboro, OH) has announced the promotion of Cliff Brehm to president and chief operating officer. Brehm will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the global business and will manage the strategic direction of the company. Brehm has held the position of chief operating officer since 2008, with responsibility for all domestic operations. Prior to that, Brehm was executive vice president of sales and marketing. He will report to the founders of the company, Hershey Lerner, chairman, and Bernie Lerner, CEO.

Unilife Corporation announced it has signed an exclusive five-year agreement with Stason Pharmaceuticals Inc. to market the Unitract 1mL safety syringe in Japan, China, and Taiwan.  Stason's Taiwan-based strategic alliance affiliate, Standard Chem. and Pharm. Co., LTD will act as the primary distributor of the product within these designated territories.

Colbert Packaging Corp. (Chicago) said it has expanded its service offerings to include technical sales support services aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of customers’ packaging, processes, and production. The services, led by packaging industry veteran John Yingst, new technical sales support manager, provide technical support for all Colbert customers throughout the entire packaging process, from package design to line trials to full production, with 24-hour response time to customer requests in most cases.

RedPrairie Corp. has announced that Harbin Pharmaceuticals has selected RedPrairie’s Warehouse Management solution to support its 30,000-sq-m distribution center in Harbin City, Hulan District, China.

The warehouse handles up to ¥10 billion in products annually and supports more than 1300 outlets and 1000 wholesalers, including chemical medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, biological product, medical appliance healthcare, and daily use chemicals.

A unit-dose oral spray could provide quick pain relief for cancer patients. Such an achievement could bring much-needed relief to patients, because breakthrough cancer pain can intensify rapidly within minutes.

INSYS Therapeutics Inc. has announced positive results from the pivotal phase III efficacy trial for patients utilizing the Fentanyl Sublingual Spray (SL Spray) technology to treat breakthrough cancer pain.

Neenah Paper (Alpharetta, GA) has added a new single-ply board consisting of 100% postconsumer fiber content for folding cartons. Environment Folding Board 100 PC 18 pt (125 lb cover) offers dimensional stability, enabling the product to flow through scoring, folding, and assembly processes efficiently. It can also be printed, embossed, foil stamped, die cut, and glued, suiting it for premium packaging such as folding boxes for the health, cosmetic, and fragrance markets.

Tekni-Plex Inc. (King of Prussia, PA), a global, diversified manufacturer of packaging products and materials for the healthcare, consumer and food packaging industries, is selected to receive the Abbott 2010 Supplier Excellence Award. The award is in recognition of its outstanding contributions in support of Abbott in 2009.